A thermal printers and printing methods are provided. The thermal printer has a first thermal print head adapted to pressure a first donor web against the receiver medium and to selectively transfer donor material to the receiver medium in an image wise fashion to form a first image in an image receiving area of the receiver medium; and a second thermal print head adapted to pressure a second donor web against the receiver medium and to selectively transfer second donor material to the receiver medium in an image wise fashion to form a second image in the image receiving area. A receiver medium transport system moves receiver medium along a printing path and the first thermal print head and the second thermal print head are positioned along the path so that they can apply donor material to the receiver medium at least in part simultaneously when instructed by a controller.
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11. A method for printing recording images on a receiver using a first donor material and a second donor material, the method comprising the steps of:
at a first position, image-wise heating the first donor material to transfer a first image plane record to the receiver;
at a second position, image-wise heating the second donor material to transfer a second image plane record to the receiver; and
moving the receiver along a path between said first position and second position, which are positioned relative to each other along said path so that donor material is transferred to the receiver at least in part simultaneously to form a single superimposed image on the receiver of said first and second image plane records.
13. A method for printing recording images on a receiver using a first donor material having first and third donor patches and a second donor material having second and fourth donor patches; the method comprising the steps of:
at a first position, applying heat in an image-wise fashion the first donor material to selectively transfer a first image plane record from the first donor patch to the receiver and a third image plane record from the third donor patch to the receiver;
at a second position, applying heat in an image-wise fashion to the second donor material to selectively transfer a second image plane record from the second donor patch to the receiver and a fourth image plane record from the fourth donor patch to the receiver; and
moving the receiver along a path between said first position and said second position, which are positioned relative to each other along said path so that donor material is transferred to the receiver at least in part simultaneously to form a single superimposed image on the receiver of said first and second image plane records, at least twice to sequentially form a single superimposed image on the medium of said first, second, third and fourth image plane records.
14. A method for printing an image comprising the steps of:
moving a receiver medium along a printing path past a first printing position and a second printing position with said first printing position and said second printing position being separated by a distance that is less than a length of an image receiving area on the receiver medium;
pressuring a first donor web having a first donor material thereon against the image receiving area as the receiver medium passes the first printing position;
selectively heating the first donor web in a manner that transfers first donor material to the receiver medium in an image-wise fashion to form a first image record in the image receiving area;
pressuring a second donor web having a second donor material thereon against the image receiving area as the receiver medium passes the second printing position; and
selectively heating the second donor web in a manner that transfers second donor material to the image receiver a medium in an image-wise fashion to form a second image record in the image receiving area in registration with the first image record;
wherein the receiver medium is moved in a manner that allows the receiver medium to flex in a portion of the receiver medium held between the first printing position and the second printing position.
1. A thermal printer for recording a superimposed image on a receiver medium, the thermal printer comprising:
a supply of a first donor web having a first donor material thereon;
a supply of a second donor web having a second donor material thereon;
a first thermal print head adapted to pressure the first donor web against the receiver medium and to selectively apply heat to the first donor web to cause donor material on the first donor web to transfer to the receiver medium in an image wise fashion to form a first image in an image receiving area of the receiver medium;
a second thermal print head adapted to pressure the second donor web against the receiver medium and to selectively apply heat to the second donor web to cause donor material on the second donor web to transfer to the receiver medium in an image wise fashion to form a second image in the image receiving area;
a receiver medium transport system adapted to move receiver medium along a printing path past the first thermal head and then past the second thermal head, with said first thermal print head and said second thermal print head being positioned along said path so that the first thermal print head and the second thermal print head can apply donor material to the receiver medium at least in part simultaneously to form a single superimposed image in the image receiving area; and
a controller adapted to cause said first print head to transfer first donor material to form the first image at least in part while said controller causes said second print head to cause transfer of the second donor material to form the second image.
5. A thermal printer for recording a superimposed image on a receiver medium, the thermal printer comprising:
a supply of a first donor web having first donor patches and third donor patches;
a supply of a second donor web having second donor patches and fourth donor patches;
a first thermal print head adapted to pressure a first donor material against the receiver medium to image-wise heat the first donor material to selectively transfer donor material from the first donor patch to an image receiving area of the receiver medium and to pressure a second donor material against the receiver medium to image-wise heat a third donor material to selectively transfer donor material from the third donor patch to the image receiving area;
a second thermal print head adapted to image-wise heat the second donor material to selectively transfer a second donor material from the second donor patch to the image receiving area and a fourth donor material from the fourth donor patch to the image receiving area;
a receiver medium transport system adapted to move the receiver medium along a reciprocal path from a start position, along a first direction past said first thermal print head and then past the second thermal print head and further being adapted to move the receiver medium in a second direction past the second thermal print head and then the first print head; and,
a controller adapted to integrate the operation of the first thermal print head, the second thermal print head and the receiver medium transport system to cause the receiver medium transport system to move the receiver along the reciprocal path in at least two of the directions and to cause the first print head and second print head to sequentially form a single superimposed image on the medium of a first, a second, a third and a fourth image plane record during said movement.
2. The printer of
3. A thermal printer as set forth in
4. A thermal printer as set forth in
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7. A thermal printer as set forth in
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9. A thermal printer as set forth in
10. A thermal printer as set forth in
12. The method of
15. The method of
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The present invention relates to thermal dye diffusion printers, and more specifically to such printers having a plurality of print heads.
A typical thermal printer uses a ribbon with three or four donor patches (cyan, magenta, yellow and optionally clear protective layer laminate). Printing is typically done by a single print head that receives electrical signals while pressed against the donor ribbon and a receiver. Generally, a temporary laminate of donor ribbon and receiver is pulled thru the nip by a capstan roller at a controlled rate so as to minimize speed variations that would result in banding artifacts in the image. At the conclusion of the printing of one color image plane of an image, the print head is raised, the donor ribbon is advanced to align the next donor patch with the receiver, and the receiver is moved to a start-of-printing position. Printing with patches and a single head requires relocating the receiver between each printing step and positioning the next color patch so the each color image plane of information can be transferred in register to the receiver. While effective for good image quality, such a mode of operation is wasteful for productivity since the rewind steps represent a portion of the total printing time.
In recent years there have been dramatic improvements in costs and thru-put of thermal printing of photos. However, there is still a need in the industry for printing faster, with little or no additional investment in printing hardware. Some of the recent improvements in print time are related to system optimization to reduce processing time. However, most of the recent improvements have come from decreasing the line time of the printer, from a modest 5 msec per line down to as little as a 1 msec per line. At short line times such as the latter, fundamental problems in the thermal imaging become major problems. Sticking of the donor to the receiver due to inadequate cooling of the donor materials and asymmetric thermal smear due to build up of heat in the print head are two issues that become significantly problematic.
It is also known in the art to provide 4-headed thermal printers. With this technology, each print head uses an individual supply of single-color donor ribbon, and printing is done in a continuous motion from start to finish. No rewinding of the receiver is required, and printing speed is generally very high because there is only one continuous printing. The ML500 printer sold by Eastman Kodak Company of Rochester, N.Y., U.S.A. is an example of such a 4-headed printer, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,440,328 describes a printer with three heads for a cyan, magenta and yellow (CMY) system. The use of a plurality of heads that print substantially simultaneously eliminates the need to rewind the paper and greatly improves productivity. In these systems, the receiver, usually in the form of a paper web is fed in a serial manner past the plurality of print heads.
However, 4-head thermal printers have a cost disadvantage. The print head and ribbon transport mechanisms such as capstan drives and pressure rollers, represent a large proportion of the cost of the printer. Thus, multiple head printers are inherently more expensive than single head devices. Another disadvantage of 4-head thermal printers is the waste of both donor ribbon and receiver upon startup. With the current architectures and their long paper paths that need to be threaded before a first print is produced, it is very difficult to avoid wasting one length of the entire paper path from the first print head to exit. The wasted length of receiver web can be as long as 12 inches and an equivalent amount of each of the four ribbons in the ML500 printer. On a long print run, where printing is continuous from print to print, this waste is not particularly significant, but if a user were to print only one or two prints in a job, this waste is a very significant portion of the media expense.
The design of
U.S. Pat. No. 5,841,460 describes a system that circulates a receiver sheet around a circular track to pass by a single print head many times so that overall cycle time can be reduced by eliminating the time required to rewind the receiver medium. Similarly, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0171755 describes a printing system that attempts to achieve a similar result without a recirculating path by using two print heads to record image information on a receiver medium that is passed by the print heads in a reciprocal manner along a substantially flat path. In the '755 publication, the first print head is adapted to print when the medium moves in one direction along the reciprocating path, and the second print head records an image when the receiver medium moves along the other direction along the reciprocating path. Such a system provides reduced printing time as the time period required to rewind the receiver sheet between printing different color image planes is used at least in part for printing. It will be appreciated, however, that systems described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,841,460 and in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0171755 do not reduce the time required to sequentially print any of the color image planes or the protective lamination layer.
Some printers attempt to conserve printing time by using multiple print heads to simultaneously record images on different sides of the same receiver medium see for example, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0158505 which describes such a printer. However, here too, the cycle time required to sequentially print each individual one of the three color image planes or the protective lamination layer is not reduced, instead a dual sided image is created within the same cycle time.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a thermal dye diffusion printer that simultaneously achieves high productivity, compactness, and relatively low cost.
In one aspect of the invention a thermal printer is provided for recording a superimposed image on a receiver medium. The thermal printer has a supply of a first donor web having a first donor material thereon; a supply of a second donor web having a second donor material thereon; a first thermal print head adapted to pressure the first donor web against the receiver medium and to selectively apply heat to the first donor web to cause donor material on the first donor web to transfer to the receiver medium in an image wise fashion to form a first image in an image receiving area of the receiver medium; and a second thermal print head adapted to pressure the second donor web against the receiver medium and to selectively apply heat to the second donor web to cause donor material on the second donor web to transfer to the receiver medium in an image wise fashion to form a second image in the image receiving area. A receiver medium transport system is adapted to move receiver medium along a printing path past the first thermal head and then past the second thermal head, with said first thermal print head and said second thermal print head being positioned along said path so that the first thermal print head and the second thermal print head can apply donor material to the receiver medium at least in part simultaneously to form a single superimposed image in the image receiving area. A controller is adapted to cause said first print head to transfer first donor material to form the first image at least in part while said controller causes said second print head to cause transfer of the second donor material to form the second image.
In the embodiment of
As is also illustrated in
In the embodiment of
A receiver medium transport system 70 provides a mechanism for advancing receiver medium 38 along a printing path 72 leading from a receiver supply area 73 and through first nip 36 such that first print head 32 can record the first image 48 on receiver medium 38. Receiver medium transport system 70 further provides sufficient structure and active components, such as controllable motors, solenoids or the like, as may be used to support or guide receiver medium 38 to direct receiver medium 38 from first nip 36 to second nip 56 in order to permit second print head 52 to record the second image 68 on receiver medium 38.
In the embodiment illustrated in
In other embodiments, receiver medium transport system 70 can comprise any structure known to those of skill in the printing arts for moving a receiver medium along printing path 72.
In the embodiment of
Referring to
As receiver medium 38 passes under first print head 32 from left to right, as illustrated in
After the yellow and the magenta color image planes are complete, controller 80 causes receiver medium 38 to be rewound to the left (Step 4), again reversed and started under first print head 32 for a second pass (Step 5). Controller 80 then causes first print head 32 to record a third, cyan color image plane on receiver medium 38. Controller 80 then causes second print head 52 to cover image receiving area 50 with a protective lamination layer if this option is selected. In Step 7, receiver medium 38 is ejected, or otherwise made available as a completed image and the second-picked sheet continues in its path from left to right exiting the region of second print head 52 (Step 3). The process can be repeated to secure multiple copies of superimposed image 69.
This design provides high productivity by employing both print heads to apply donor material to some part of superimposed image 69 on receiver medium 38 at the same time since both print heads can apply donor material to the medium at least in part simultaneously to form a single image on the receiver. At the same time, the design minimizes waste as compared to a system that requires a leader such as the prior art construction of
It will be appreciated that in order to achieve such simultaneous printing it is necessary for second print head 52 to close against and to pressure second donor web 66 against receiver medium 38 while the first color plane is being applied by first print head 32. However, when second print head 52 begins applying pressure against receiver medium 38, the pressure drives receiver medium 38 against second platen 54 which is rotating at a velocity that may be equal to, faster than or slower than a rate of movement of receiver medium 38. When the rate of movement of receiver medium 38 differs from the rate of movement of second platen 54, a shock wave can be induced that travels along receiver medium 38 and releases energy at first print head 32 which can interfere with the printing of first image 48 and, this in turn, can induce unwanted artifacts.
Accordingly, in the embodiment of
In this way, a forward portion of receiver medium 38 can be temporarily slowed or accelerated as a result of being pressured by second print head 52 against second platen while second platen 54 is rotating without substantially interfering with the movement of a trailing portion of receiver medium 38 past first print head 32. This, in turn, reduces the likelihood that the introduction of pressure by second print head 52 will induce the creation of an artifact in the first image plane record.
In the embodiment illustrated in
This is because such a rigid structure can potentially induce effects at first print head 32 as second print head 52 begins to apply pressure thereto. For example, a shock wave induced at second print head 52 would be immediately transported down the length of a receiver medium 38 by a receiver medium 38 having such a rigid structure. Similarly, any reduction in the velocity of movement of receiver medium 38 caused when second print head 52 applies pressure to receiver medium 38 will be immediately reflected at first print head 32. Thus, it is desirable to prevent the possibility of this by inducing such a curvature.
It will be appreciated that in the above described embodiments, donor patches are referred to as having patches of differently colored donor material and/or clear donor material. However, it will be appreciated that the donor material supplied by the different donor patches can comprise materials that are other than differently colored material and can include, for example, a combination of black donor material and laminate material in a single donor patch, or donor material provided to form layered combinations of such donor material such as may be useful for forming circuits or structures having desired electrical, mechanical, magnetic or optical properties.
The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention.
Fowlkes, William Y., Henzel, Richard P.
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Dec 21 2006 | HENZEL, RICHARD P | Eastman Kodak Company | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 018737 | /0514 | |
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